Continued: Boyfriend staged Anoka biker's death, police say

A 28-year-old Anoka mother was beaten to death by her boyfriend and strapped to her motorcycle before it was crashed to make it appear that her death was an accident, according to murder charges filed Monday.

A red nylon strap was looped around Natasha Waalen's body and arms when she was found near her wrecked motorcycle on an Andover street early Friday. That and other odd details, including defensive wounds on Waalen's hands, prompted police to charge Ryan Boland, 33, with second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

Boland is accused of faking the motorcycle accident to cover up how Waalen really died -- multiple blows to the head, according to the criminal charges filed in Anoka County District Court. His brother, Timothy Boland, 31, was charged today in Waalen's death, accused of second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

"It's not that unusual for a suspect to lie about what happened, but it's highly unusual for a suspect to concoct a whole other scenario," said Lt. Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office. "I've never seen anything like that."

According to the charges, a bystander found Waalen's body about 12:30 a.m. Friday.

Her body was about 40 to 50 feet away from her motorcycle. She had on a tank top and jeans, but no shoes or socks. A crime lab official said it seemed odd that Waalen had no cuts or scrapes on the bottom of her feet, given that she had supposedly been on the motorcycle, which had sharp steel foot pegs, the charges said.

Ryan Boland, who has a 4-year-old daughter with Waalen, initially told police that Waalen had been drinking heavily the night of her death and took off on her motorcycle. He said that he had tried to stop her from leaving their Anoka home and that they argued, but it never became physical.

After investigators noticed that he had scratch marks on his hands, he told them that Waalen had scratched him while he tried to stop her from leaving. He also showed them deeper scratches on his right neck and shoulder, the complaint said. Waalen had several defensive wounds on the backs of her hands, as well as extensive wounds to her forehead, according to autopsy results.

The pieces of the case began to come together as investigators searched Boland's truck and the Anoka home that Boland and Waalen shared. Red straps that were similar to the one wrapped around Waalen were found in the garage of the house, a point that Boland acknowledged to the police, the criminal complaint said.

After finding Boland's pickup truck at his father's house in Andover, investigators found traces of blood on the tailgate, steering wheel and driver's and passenger seat. In the back of the pickup was a broken orange plastic clamp, which matched pieces of a clamp that were found at the scene where Waalen's body was found.

At Boland's and Waalen's home on Adams Street in Anoka, police found traces of blood throughout the garage, according to the criminal complaint. The concrete garage floor appeared to have been cleaned recently, but traces of blood were found there. A carpeted area in the garage also appeared to have been cut recently. On Saturday, police searched a dumpster about a half-mile from their home and found a piece of carpet with blood on it that matched the piece from the garage, the complaint said.

"The search warrant made it clear that some sort of a violent assault took place in that attached garage," Sommer said. "The blood evidence there ... it made the picture perfectly clear."

Neighbors punched further holes in Boland's story after several of them told police that they recalled hearing Waalen's loud motorcycle in the past, but that no one heard a motorcycle on Thursday evening, according to the criminal complaint.

Waalen, an acupuncturist who had received a master's degree a few years ago and also worked at a training agency for adults with disabilities, appeared to be trying to end her relationship with Boland. According to the criminal complaint, several of Waalen's friends told police that Boland was abusive. One friend said that Waalen had asked Boland to move out at the end of the month.

A co-worker told police that Waalen had talked about getting a restraining order against Boland because "she feared for her life," the complaint said.

Staff writer Paul Levy contributed to this report.

Lora Pabst • 612-673-4628